138 
THE CONDOR 
Vol. XV 
held sevei ell inches of snow. The hail-stones, however, found their way between 
the branches and made short work of the eggs. 
As an instance of ground building birds building in well sheltered spots, in 
the regions of storms, I will mention several nests of Thurber Junco. July 21 two 
nests of the Junco were discovered on small stone ledges, well underneath pro- 
jecting blocks of granite on the terraced slope of Pyramid Peak, granite, utterly 
hare of soil, extending underfoot in all directions. What would seem to be a 
more cong'enial spot for the species was a low thicket of dwarfed pines, encircling 
a tiny alpine garden on the shore of a lake not far away. Plowever, the ne.sts 
and eggs under the rock roof were not harmed at all by the violent dashes of hail. 
Earlier in the season, at Bijou on the southern shore of Lake Tahoe. I was 
surprised to find two nests of the Junco built inside of tin cans lying in a mead- 
ow. Eggs in one nest and young in the other were not injured by several inches 
of snow which fell at that time. Later I was informed that this method of nest 
building with Juncos was not uncommon in the vicinity of Bijou. 
AN INTRODUCTION TO THE S'rUDY OF THE EGGS OF 
THE NORTH AMERICAN LIMICOLAE 
By DR. R. w. SHUFELDT 
WITH SIX PHOTOS 
I 'P WOULD seem that up to the jiresent time no contribution lias appeared 
which has been devoted to descriptions of the eggs of the limicoline birds 
of this country, and certainly none that has been illustrated by reliable fig- 
ures of tlie eggs of the principal genera composing this most interesting assem- 
hlage. There are, to he sure, various books extant, in which brief descriptions of 
these eggs are given, indeed, one or two such books with colored illustrations of 
them, but they do not belong to tbe class of literature to which reference is made. 
Major Bendire’s magnificent volumes did not reach the shore and water birds, a 
fact that every ornithologist in this country has, at one time or another, men- 
tioned with the most sincere regret. It may be said, too, in passing, now that 
Mr. A. C. Bent is doing such admirable work in the direction of completing that 
elegant classic it is to be hoped that he ma)’ be so fortunate as to command the 
means to bring out, as illustrations for it, plates of colored figures of eggs of all 
the water birds of North America, in a way that Bendire would have done, had 
he lived to accomplish it. 
The collection of eggs of North American birds in the United States Nation- 
al Museum is truly of a magnificent character: it forms a part of the material 
under the care of the Division of Birds of that institution, where it is cased in 
the best class of modern cases, and arranged in such a manner as to be readily 
available for the oological student. There is also a most beautiful display of 
birds’ eggs and nests in tbe halls of the ornithological exhibit in another part of 
the main building. Any responsible ornithologist of standing may study these 
eggs, but tliey have not been so used in the present contribution. This would 
have required far more time than I have at my command at present ; moreover, 
the eggs of our limicoline birds are there in large series, consisting of hundreds 
of specimens ; to have touched them at all would simply have meant for me to 
